Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus pushed for clarity on NAAJA spending

The Attorney-General has been urged to provide assurance to Australians that $83 million in taxpayer funding being given to the ‘corrupt’ North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency is not being misused.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has been pushed to provide assurance to Australians that taxpayer funds being given to the embattled North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency are not being misused.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has been pushed to provide assurance to Australians that $83 million in taxpayer funding being given to the embattled North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency is not being misused.

Opposition legal affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash on Wednesday wrote to Mr Dreyfus urging him to clarify how the money, which is being paid out over a period of five years, is being spent.

Her letter comes after the Auditor-General refused to probe commonwealth spending within the organisation - which this masthead has revealed to be riddled with shocking allegations of fraud and corruption - due to “timing” conflicts.

“As you are no doubt aware, last week I received a response from the Acting Auditor-General, indicating that the matter I referred ‘should not replace other areas of audit focus identified in the 2023–24 work program in relation to the Attorney-General’s portfolio’. I do not express any view about the Acting Auditor-General’s decision,” Senator Cash wrote.

“However, NAAJA describes itself as ‘contracted by’ your Department ‘to provide Criminal and Civil Law services to Aboriginal people and their families in the Northern Territory’, and according to your spokesperson is receiving $83 million in Commonwealth funding under arrangements within your portfolio.

“The concerns that have been raised in The Australian and elsewhere call into question the governance and oversight of those arrangements. In the absence of any audit by the Australian National Audit Office in this financial year, I call on you to outline the steps you will take to provide assurance to the Australian people that the money received by NAAJA is not being misused.

“In particular, I ask that you outline any steps your Department is taking under the relevant funding agreement to ensure that money being provided to NAAJA is improving outcomes on the ground, as intended.”

The Australian in August revealed allegations of serious misconduct among high-ranking NAAJA employees, including that chief financial officer Madhur Evans secretly funnelled $20,000 into the bank account of chair Colleen Rosas, who had requested her pay be given to her on a credit card so as not to alert the tax office and threaten her Centrelink pension.

The allegations arose during a court case brought by former chief executive Priscilla Atkins, who claims she was sacked after she discovered corruption by Ms Evans and Ms Rosas.

Ms Evans and Ms Rosas deny the allegations, and say Ms Atkins used company funds to purchase multiple cars including a $129,000 Range Rover, and forged Ms Rosas’s signature on her contract extension document, securing her position as CEO – and $350,000 salary – for a further five years. Ms Atkins denies wrongdoing.

A NAAJA spokesperson previously told The Australian NT Police had cleared Ms Rosas of any wrongdoing, but are still assessing allegations levelled at Ms Evans.

In her letter Senator Cash also referenced the fact the Auditor-General had made “preliminary inquiries” of the Attorney-General’s Department and the NT Auditor-General’s office before deciding not to investigate the spending.

“I ask that you release all available information about communication between your Department and the ANAO, to the maximum extent permissible by law,” she wrote.